


Dolor

by KinbariTeaHeathen



Category: LEGO Monkie Kid
Genre: AU, Angst, Character Death, Hair Clone Wukong, MK is Wukong's reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-27 19:15:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,120
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30127566
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KinbariTeaHeathen/pseuds/KinbariTeaHeathen
Summary: How do you react, when you find out you're not real?How do you react, when someone who was never real, dies?
Comments: 4
Kudos: 21





	Dolor

**Author's Note:**

> Knox. Winter. With all due respect, fuck you both for 'making' me write this. /j

_This couldn't be right._

Wukong stared at MK, trying hard not to let his shock reach his face.

_This can't be right._

He'd activated his true vision. Out of curiosity, mostly, so sue him, he was a curious and impulsive monkey.

_He never should've done it._

He would've been better off being ignorant. He would've been better off not knowing that the golden outline of MK's soul was not what a human's should be.

_That.....that was him._

Why was an outline of him showing up around MK?

That shouldn't be possible. Only his soul could look like that. A human could never have a soul that looked like that.

~~That is... unless he reincarnated.~~

~~He didn't want to contemplate that.~~

Maybe....Maybe it was just because MK was his successor. His powers were simply affecting his souls appearance.

Yes. Yes that had to be it.

_He let himself believe that was it._

~~He knew that it wasn't.~~

\---

Later, when MK had left, Wukong, for the first time in centuries, looking into a mirror, used the golden vision on himself.

_There was nothing there._

He reels back from the mirror in shock. Thoughts race through his mind.

_Who am I?_

Maybe this was all a dream. A nightmare. Maybe, if he thought about it hard enough, he'd wake up.

_What is happening?_

He knew it wasn't though. Somehow he could tell it wasn't.

_Who am I, if not Wukong?_

He remembered the others reincarnating. He remembered crying for weeks.

_Are those memories real?_

He's shaking, he realizes. He kneels on the ground, in shock.

_What am I?_

He holds his arms. Curls up. He knows what he is.

_Am I real?_

He starts crying.

_He knows that he isn't._

\---

Everything is a danger to him now.

_He's scared._

He's not immortal. Not invulnerable like he thought he was.

_He's worried._

MK doesn't know. MK doesn't know anything.

_He's nervous._

What if the kid doesn't need him anymore? Will he just vanish?

_He's anxious._

What will happen when the kid finds out?

_He's terrified._

\---

He doesn't tell the kid. He _can't_ tell the kid. No matter how much he knew he should. He just couldn't.

MK looked up to him. Saw him as a mentor figure. If he found out that Wukong wasn't actually real-

~~And gods, didn't it hurt to think about that-~~

The kid's reaction....if Wukong had to guess, it would end up being ten times worse than his was.

So he doesn't tell him.

_He really should've._

\---

There's a demon. One the kid can't face on his own. A dangerous one, one that would not hesitate to kill.

Wukong knows that he has to help him.

It shouldn't scare him as much as it does. He's fought many battles before, these past few centuries, and has emerged from all of them unscathed.

~~It's terrifying, realizing how many times he was actually so close to death.~~

But still, he hesitates. The new knowledge that he's learned still churning in his mind.

He's just a hair clone. He's not immortal, like the original.

~~And on some level, he curses the original Wukong for having caused this. Wouldn't it have been easier to just leave a note for his next incarnation, instead of creating a clone with an identity crisis?~~

And yet still, despite all this, when the demon throws an attack that Wukong knows the kid can't avoid, he barely even thinks about it.

It's not until he's taken MK's place in the line of fire that he realizes just how bad of an idea this was.

He's not ready to die.

_But then again, nobody ever is._

\---

MK watches, in horror, as his mentor pushes him out of the way, taking the hit for him.

In a matter of seconds, a moment that seems to last forever, their eyes meet.

MK sees him mouth the words "I'm sorry.", right before the Monkey King vanishes in a blast of golden light.

The demon is defeated surprisingly easily after that.

_Grief, when combined with anger, is a shockingly good motivator._

\---

The monkeys deliver the letter to his room on day 3.

Day 3 of MK not leaving the apartment that is.

He doesn't actually bother to read the letter until day 5. He wanted to put it off as long as possible. To hold on to ~~denial~~ _hope_ , for just a bit longer.

The letter sends that all crashing down.

He can't find it in him to believe it at first.

The idea of being the reincarnation of the Monkey King, that the Wukong he knew was just a hair clone-

Well, it just sounded absurd.

_Deep down though, he'd always known it was true._

\---

He doesn't tell anyone.

How could he?

They'd all become friends with the ~~clone~~ , _Monkey King_ , during the time they'd known him.

To let them know that the person they were mourning technically hadn't been real, and that MK was the reincarnation of the real Wukong-

MK shuddered to think about how they'd react.

He knew they wouldn't be mad at him. He knew that for a fact.

...Knowing what he knew would only make them sadder.

_And, in MK's mind, that was worse._

This knowledge would be his burden, his to carry alone.

\---

For six weeks, he avoids returning to the mountain.

He spends those six weeks debating with himself. He knows he should go to the mountain. To get rid of the lingering doubts in his mind. To finally have some sense of closure, some resolution to this whole mess.

He can't bring himself to go.

It takes him starting to see Wukong's reflection when he looks in the mirror to head for the mountain.

\---

The mountain hasn't changed in the six weeks he'd been avoiding it.

He's a fool for thinking it would have.

He walks through the forest, through the waterfall, through the cave.

He arrives at Wukong's little house.

The monkeys are quiet. They're giving him his space.

He can't decide if he's thankful for that or not.

He walks into the house. It's exactly as he remembers it.

MK spends a while there, just walking around, searching for-

For what?

_...For someone who no longer exists._

He collapses, finally, on the steps to Wukong's house. He pulls his knees to his chest, curling up.

A sob wracks his body.

Despite himself, he had still been holding on to some string of denial, a thread of hope, of _want_ for the letter to have been wrong. For Wukong to still be here.

Which, MK thought, in dark amusement, technically, he was here, since, apparently, MK was him.

But it wasn't the same.

It just wasn't.

_And it never would be._


End file.
